Lack of Oversight, Sloppy Record Keeping Raises Concerns About School Safety
Reporter: Krissy Clark. The California Report
[Corey Johnson and Michael Montgomery contributed to this story.]
Enlarge Photo by: Yuli Weeks/California Watch
Inspectors have questioned the safety of windows installed at Southeast Middle School in South Gate, near Los Angeles. They warned that the windows could dislodge or shatter in an earthquake.
The Vikings, Pescadero High School's basketball team, are practicing in the gym. Directly over an earthquake fault line.
Bryan Burns, a local parent, points it out. "The earthquake fault comes across the front lawn of the high school towards the south side of the building."
He didn't think much about where the school was geoglicaly, he says, until a few years ago when the school put a new roof on the gym. Then he noticed symmetrical cracks going down the whole wall, where the fault is.
Concerned, he contacted the Division of the State Architect. The agency was created in 1933 after the Long Beach earthquake destroyed 70 schools. After the earthquake, legislators passed the Field Act, which requires state regulators to document and certify that every public school buildings meets strict earthquake standards.
But when Burns got in touch with the field engineer in charge of the La Honda Pescadero School District, the engineer didn't know anything about the high school. So Burns and another parent, Jeff Ganian, began searching through school records and discovered that the gym was not earthquake certified.
"That's when the light bulb went on," Burns said. "And we began to realize that there are potentially thousands and thousands of uncertified buildings, or more."
The Pescadero High School gym is far from alone, an analysis of state records shows roughly six out of every 10 public schools in California have at least one uncertified building. From minor fire alarm upgrades to brand new classrooms, over 20,000 school construction projects lack the final safety certification required by law.
Steve Castellanos who ran the Division of the State Architect from 2000 to 2005, was shocked when told.
"Tens of thousands would indicate to me something that is approaching a crisis, if not a failure," he said. "Parents and citizens in California have come to expect that they're children are housed in safe schools and my view of certification is that it's not an option, but it's a duty of the state to provide that certification."
Over the last three decades many school districts began building new schools in a rush to ease crowded classrooms. The districts pressured architects, builders and their own inspectors to move forward on projects, even if it meant overlooking some requirements of the earthquake-safety law. At the same time, various governors began raiding the budget of the State Architect who conducts those certifications.
Howard "Chip" Smith, who currently runs the Division of the State Architect, said, "We've seen inconsistencies in some of the submitted documentation. But we haven't actually seen a case where a significant, imminent hazard or risk was posed by one of these projects."
So is it a paperwork problem? But what does it mean if that paperwork verifies inspections critical to enforcing the quake-safety law?
The Southeast Middle School opened in 2004 in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. And while the eighth-grade students can rattle off what to do in an earthquake, a three-story glass facade in the classrooms could endanger them in a strong earthquake. State records, and inspection reports from the Los Angeles Unified School District raise questions about whether these windows walls were properly anchored.
"The whole window wall could come out, or glass shattering," said the original supervising architect on the project, Jim Smith. "Obviously if that happens, you have students and teachers that are in those rooms and outside those rooms so, it's not a good situation. They could be injured. "
Smith says the school district was under a tight construction schedule, and he was told the plan was to go back later to make any needed fixes. Citing concerns over the windows, the state denied the school earthquake certification, then filed the project away without a detailed follow-up.
Neil Gamble, the Director and Maintenance and Operations says that the windows were installed properly and are safe.
"Based on the documentation that I've seen all of the issues there were addressed, and were satisfactorily addressed, and we're in the final certification of the project," he said.
Gable has a document by the district building inspector that states the giant window walls were installed according to earthquake-safety standards. But that document was dated nearly five years after the windows were put in and the school opened. Ron Bridi, a school district inspector who was also on the project, questions whether the concern about the windows was ever actually resolved.
The school district can't verify that that work on the windows was done, which concerns Bridi.
"Would you send a child to that school given what we're talking about?" he said. "No I wouldn't."
Every school has hundreds of documents to track though, and some get lost, says Scott Harvey, the head of California's Department of General Services, who oversees at the Division of the State Architect.
"I'm hopeful that we have done the best we can to ensure that kids are safe in their schools," he said.
But he agrees that without proper documentation, no one can be really sure how safe a school is
Bryan Burns, a local parent, points it out. "The earthquake fault comes across the front lawn of the high school towards the south side of the building."
He didn't think much about where the school was geoglicaly, he says, until a few years ago when the school put a new roof on the gym. Then he noticed symmetrical cracks going down the whole wall, where the fault is.
Concerned, he contacted the Division of the State Architect. The agency was created in 1933 after the Long Beach earthquake destroyed 70 schools. After the earthquake, legislators passed the Field Act, which requires state regulators to document and certify that every public school buildings meets strict earthquake standards.
But when Burns got in touch with the field engineer in charge of the La Honda Pescadero School District, the engineer didn't know anything about the high school. So Burns and another parent, Jeff Ganian, began searching through school records and discovered that the gym was not earthquake certified.
"That's when the light bulb went on," Burns said. "And we began to realize that there are potentially thousands and thousands of uncertified buildings, or more."
The Pescadero High School gym is far from alone, an analysis of state records shows roughly six out of every 10 public schools in California have at least one uncertified building. From minor fire alarm upgrades to brand new classrooms, over 20,000 school construction projects lack the final safety certification required by law.
Steve Castellanos who ran the Division of the State Architect from 2000 to 2005, was shocked when told.
"Tens of thousands would indicate to me something that is approaching a crisis, if not a failure," he said. "Parents and citizens in California have come to expect that they're children are housed in safe schools and my view of certification is that it's not an option, but it's a duty of the state to provide that certification."
Over the last three decades many school districts began building new schools in a rush to ease crowded classrooms. The districts pressured architects, builders and their own inspectors to move forward on projects, even if it meant overlooking some requirements of the earthquake-safety law. At the same time, various governors began raiding the budget of the State Architect who conducts those certifications.
Howard "Chip" Smith, who currently runs the Division of the State Architect, said, "We've seen inconsistencies in some of the submitted documentation. But we haven't actually seen a case where a significant, imminent hazard or risk was posed by one of these projects."
So is it a paperwork problem? But what does it mean if that paperwork verifies inspections critical to enforcing the quake-safety law?
The Southeast Middle School opened in 2004 in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. And while the eighth-grade students can rattle off what to do in an earthquake, a three-story glass facade in the classrooms could endanger them in a strong earthquake. State records, and inspection reports from the Los Angeles Unified School District raise questions about whether these windows walls were properly anchored.
"The whole window wall could come out, or glass shattering," said the original supervising architect on the project, Jim Smith. "Obviously if that happens, you have students and teachers that are in those rooms and outside those rooms so, it's not a good situation. They could be injured. "
Smith says the school district was under a tight construction schedule, and he was told the plan was to go back later to make any needed fixes. Citing concerns over the windows, the state denied the school earthquake certification, then filed the project away without a detailed follow-up.
Neil Gamble, the Director and Maintenance and Operations says that the windows were installed properly and are safe.
"Based on the documentation that I've seen all of the issues there were addressed, and were satisfactorily addressed, and we're in the final certification of the project," he said.
Gable has a document by the district building inspector that states the giant window walls were installed according to earthquake-safety standards. But that document was dated nearly five years after the windows were put in and the school opened. Ron Bridi, a school district inspector who was also on the project, questions whether the concern about the windows was ever actually resolved.
The school district can't verify that that work on the windows was done, which concerns Bridi.
"Would you send a child to that school given what we're talking about?" he said. "No I wouldn't."
Every school has hundreds of documents to track though, and some get lost, says Scott Harvey, the head of California's Department of General Services, who oversees at the Division of the State Architect.
"I'm hopeful that we have done the best we can to ensure that kids are safe in their schools," he said.
But he agrees that without proper documentation, no one can be really sure how safe a school is
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